Torpedo Bug in Mount Washington

Subject: Mt. Washington leaf-like bug I have never seen! Location: Mt. Washington, Los Angeles, CA April 20, 2013 11:33 pm Hello Bugman, I just came home and found this adorable little bug on my front door. I have personally never seen anything like it in Los Angeles! I want to say that it was 2cm long. Do you know what this cute leaf looking little thing is? I would really love to know! Signature: Your fellow bug loving neighbor,

Torpedo Bug

Dear fellow bug loving neighbor, We don’t know which excites us more: to have a WTB? Mount Washingtington posting that our editorial staff did not submit, or to have learned that this interesting creature is called a Torpedo Bug one of the Flattid Planthoppers. We quickly identified the Torpedo Bug as Siphanta acuta on BugGuide where we learned it is: “native to Australia, adventive elsewhere (New Zealand, Hawaii); established in CA” and “earliest NA record: CA 1983 not considered a pest in CA; considered a pest of banana, citrus, coffee, guava, macadamia, and many ornamentals in HI.” We are still tagging it as an Invasive Exotic. Though it is not considered a pest in CA, that might be because it is not that numerous or because it hasn’t yet affected the agricultural industry. If it is considered a pest on citrus in Hawaii, it stands to reason it might also affect citrus in California. Planthoppers feed by sucking juices from plants with their piercing/sucking mouthparts. The New South Wales Government Agricultural website has a nice photo of the Torpedo Bug, but it is called the Green Planthopper.

Hi Daniel, Sorry for the delay in reply! I’ve been very busy on a job and wasn’t able to respond until now. Thank you so much for identifying the bug for me. As a gardener I see a lot of bugs but this torpedo bug was certainly a different one! Thank you so much for your blog… it is quite fun! … Warmly,